Items tagged with Hackers

Given the string of success hackers have had with compromising the security of major retailers, it can’t be surprising that hackers have also been targeting more juicy targets – namely, banks. After Russian anti-malware company Kaspersky was brought in to investigate a malfunctioning ATM in the Ukraine, it discovered that a group of hackers had been ripping off banks for the past two years, possibly raking in more than $900 million. The affected banks working with Kaspersky have been keeping quiet during the investigation and it’s possible that even more banks have been breached, but haven’t alerted...Read more...

It's bad enough when you're in possession of a database containing 80 million customer records and it gets hacked. But what's even worse than that is when you fail to encrypt all that data. Such is the unfortunate situation facing Anthem, the second largest healthcare provider in the U.S., and its tens of millions of customers who are potentially affected by a recent security breach. Had Anthem encrypted its records, the stolen data might not be all that valuable to hackers, or at least more difficult to access. But the reason Anthem consciously chose not to encrypt all that data is so that it...Read more...

Last year was a busy one for hackers, and it doesn't look like 2015 will be much different. The latest to get hit is Anthem Inc., the second-largest health insurer in the United States. While investigators are still determining the extent of the breach, it's said that hackers broke into a database containing personal information for around 80 million of the company's customers and staff members. Anthem believes that "tens of millions" of records were stolen from its database, making this one of the largest data breaches ever disclosed by a healthcare firm. Personal information that...Read more...

As unfortunate as it's become, another day in the tech industry means yet another security breach, a startling trend that seems to be picking up in frequency as we head into 2015. This time graphics chip maker NVIDIA was hit. The Santa Clara, California-based company has advised its employees to change their passwords after discovering "unauthorized access" to its network.NVIDIA said it learned about the breach during the first week of December, adding that it involved a number of employee usernames and passwords. At this time, NVIDIA hasn't found any evidence to suggest that any other information...Read more...

It often takes political satire to put situations into perspective, and leave it to the hilarious minds at Saturday Night Live to shining a proper light on North Korea and its involvement in hacking Sony Pictures Entertainment. Actor Mike Myers reprised his role as Dr. Evil, who was none too happy that Kim Jong-un is being lumped together with the world's biggest and most evil super villains. As far as Dr. Evil is concerned, both North Korea and Sony are giving "evil a bad name," something he's obviously qualified to speak about during his repeated attempts to hold the world hostage for millions...Read more...

U.S. officials debated whether or not to officially blame North Korea for a massive cyberattack against Sony Pictures Entertainment, though not for long. President Barack Obama said during a new conference yesterday that the evidence suggests North Korea is indeed responsible and promised a response, one that will come "proportionally and in a space, time, and manner that we choose." Naturally, North Korea is still maintaining that it had nothing to do with the attack, calling the accusations "groundless slander."A spokesman for North Korea's foreign ministry took things to a new level by saying...Read more...

On Thursday, some people visiting a selection of major news websites were surprised by a rogue popup saying that they have been hacked by the Syrian Electronic Army. The attacks seemed to have been focused on North American and British media organizations by the hacker group that is linked to the Assad regime. According to reports from various users on Twitter, some of the affected sites include CNBC, Forbes, PCWorld, The Daily Telegraph, The Independent, and the Chicago Tribune. Visitors are being greeted by a random popup that reads, “You’ve been hacked by the Syrian Electronic Army (SEA)” which...Read more...

Government agencies are prime targets for many hackers (particularly those funded by other governments), so it’s not surprising that the State Department was recently attacked. What makes the attack unusual is that it appears to have been successful, with unclassified systems being compromised, including possibly the State Department’s email system. What’s more, the State Department is the fourth government agency to suffer such a breach in recent weeks. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and United States Postal Service and White House have all been disrupted...Read more...

The more time that passes, the more details come to light regarding a major security breach at Home Depot that exposed 53 million customer email addresses on top of compromising 56 million credit and debit cards. There's an ongoing investigation into the incident, and one of the latest tidbits is that Home Depot is placing some of the blame on Microsoft. That doesn't mean Home Depot is absolved of any blame on itself -- the company was slow to address lingering security issues -- though the vulnerability that the hackers exploited was one that existed in Windows. The attackers used a third-party...Read more...

Home Depot disclosed this week that around 53 million email addresses were taken during a recent security breach, which is in addition to the approximately 56 million compromised customer credit and debit cards previously disclosed by the hardware chain. The updated findings are the result of weeks of investigation by Home Deport, law enforcement, and third-party IT security experts, the company said. The stolen email addresses were contained in separate files that those responsible for the breach were able to swipe. However, those additional files did not contain passwords, payment card information,...Read more...

You may have read in the news that hackers infiltrated Dropbox, stole seven million usernames and passwords, and then posted a portion of those login credentials online. Those reports stem from an anonymous post on Pastebin.com containing what the author claims is a data dump of 400 Dropbox accounts, calling it the "first teaser" of 6,937,081 hacked accounts. However, Dropbox says the leaked info is from other services. "Recent news articles claiming that Dropbox was hacked aren’t true. Your stuff is safe. The usernames and passwords referenced in these articles were stolen from unrelated...Read more...

Kmart is the latest major retailer to fall prey to a hacker attack resulting in the theft of customer data. The company's IT department discovered a data breach in Kmart's payment data systems and immediately launched a full-scale investigation. Based on initial findings, it's believed that the breach began in early September. Investigators believe that the hackers used a form of malware currently flying under the radar of antivirus software to infect Kmart's payment data systems. The malware has been removed, but certain credit and debit card numbers have compromised, according to Sears Holdings...Read more...

For the second time in less than a year, AT&T is left with egg on its face after discovering that one of its employees is responsible for a data breach. In this latest instance, an insider sidestepped AT&T's "strict privacy and security guidelines" and was able to view confidential information of around 1,600 AT&T customers. AT&T sent a letter (PDF) to affected customers to let them know what happened, what steps they can take to protect their information, and to apologize for violating its own privacy rules. The telecom is offering affected customers free credit monitoring service....Read more...

Four members belonging to an international computer hacking ring have been indicted. The Justice Department released a press release that revealed the members were charged with breaking into the computer networks of tech companies and even the U.S. Army. The estimated value of the theft of intellectual property is said to be over $100 million. “As the indictment charges, the members of this international hacking ring stole trade secret data used in high-tech American products, ranging from software that trains U.S. soldiers to fly Apache helicopters to Xbox games that entertain millions around...Read more...